Knitting machine



R. KUENTZ 2,70,932

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 24, 1954 IIIIIIIIIIIII'IIIIIIIIIII United States Patent ce KNITTING MACEHNE Roger Kuentz, Saint-Cyr-sur-Morin, France Application December 24, 1954, Serial No. 477,533

4 Claims. (Cl. 66-415) Knitting machines comprise needles which are mobile in relation to a needle bed. In most cases these needles are removable, for by altering their number and/or position different stitches are obtained and the possibilities of the machine consequently enhanced.

Hitherto the removable needles have been kept in position either by a sliding guide-strip in a dove-tailed slot contrived in the needle bed or by a guide-strip fixed at various points in the needle bed by screws. The first arrangement is costly and the second has the drawback of requiring a relatively long time to dismount the guidestrip.

This invention relates to an improvement made in knitting machines to remedy the disadvantages described above.

According to the invention, the removable needles are kept in position by a rod or guide-strip provided at each end with organs for hooking on to the needle bed of the machine.

The guide-strip is preferably cambered in shape when not fixed on the needle bed. Due to this arrangement it forms a spring and presses against the needle bed for the whole of its length when booked by its ends to the said needle bed.

The hooking organ may, for example, be constituted by a teat passing through a hole in the needle bed and which has an enlarged end; the teat being so positioned as to be pressed by the elasticity of the guide-strip on to the wall of the hole directed towards the centre of the needle bed. It is consequently necessary to exert force to free from the hole the enlarged end of the teat so that the latter cannot normally come out of its hole. The enlarged end of the teat may, for example, be spherical.

The hooking organ may likewise be constituted by a bend in the guide-strip hooking on to the edge of the needle bed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, it being understood that the drawing is merely illustrative of two practical examples of the invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a knitting machine improved according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the guide-strip separated from the needle bed;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the ends of the guidestrip attached to the needle bed; and

2,780,932 Patented Feb. 12, 1957 Fig. 4 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 of a difierent embodiment of a practical example of the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a knitting machine with two needle beds 1, each provided with transversal slots 2 in which the needles (not shown) slide. The needles relative to each needle bed are kept in position thereon by a guide-strip 3 which is provided at each end with a member hooking on to the needle bed.

In the practical example, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the guide-strip 3 is bow-shaped and provided at each end with a teat 4 which engages in a hole 5 in the needle bed and which teat 4 has a spherical end 6. The length of the teat 4 is greater than the thickness of the needle bed and the teat is so positioned as to be pressed, due to the bow-shape of the guide-strip, against the wall 7 of the hole 5 which is directed towards the centre of the needle bed, so that the spherical part 6 of the teat comes to bear on the lower edge of the wall 7 and keeps the teat 4 in position.

In the practical example, shown in Fig. 4, the end 8 of the guide-strip 3 is bent back so as to form an acute angle with the guide-strip and is hooked on to the outer edge of the needle bed 1.

I claim:

1. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a plurality of removable needles carried by said needle bed, a longitudinal, elastic guide strip inherently of how shape disposed on said needle bed above said needles, means disposed at both ends of said guide strip for securing the latter in substantially linear shape to said needle bed in its operative, needle retaining position, the tendency of said guide strip to assume its inoperative, bow shape keeping said means in its securing position.

2. The knitting machine, as set forth in claim 1, in which said needle bed has holes spaced apart at a distance substantially equal to the length of said guide strip, and said securing means comprises a teat having an enlarged free end secured at each end to said guide strip, said teat passing through its corresponding hole of said needle bed in the operative position of said guide strip, said teat being pressed against the portion of the wall of said needle bed closer to the center of the latter due to the tendency of said guide strip to assume its inoperative bow shape.

3. The knitting machine, as set forth in claim 2, in which said enlarged free end of the teat is of spherical shape.

4. The knitting machine, as set forth in claim 1, in which the edge portions of said needle bed are spaced apart at a width substantially equal to the length of said guide strip, and in which said securing means comprises bent over end portions of said guide strip, said bent over end portions of the guide strip being pressed against said edge portions of said needle bed in the operative position of said guide strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,210,106 Schwartz et al. Dec. 26, 1916 

